GSMA: Connected Living How China is set for global M2M Leadership June 2014 FOREWORD Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is transforming the world around us, making our lives, homes and cities smarter and more efficient with a never-ending stream of real-time actionable data, whether it’s smart meters monitoring our energy use or remotely checking patients with chronic diseases. The M2M market is growing rapidly, with the number of connections set to reach a quarter of a billion this year, accounting for 2.8 per cent of all global mobile connections, double what it was in 2010. China is at the forefront of this growth. It is a country with the world’s fastest- growing economy and is now the world’s largest M2M market with 50 million connections, putting it ahead of the U.S. and Japan combined - a number that is set to grow exponentially. The opportunity for further growth is immense, especially when one considers the sheer number of ‘things’ that could potentially be connected. All three of China’s mobile operators - China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – are experiencing tremendous growth, particularly in the agricultural, healthcare, automotive, retail and consumer electronics sectors and the country’s rapidly expanding middle class will also drive the consumer market with demand for smart homes, wearable devices, smart city services and connected cars. China’s leading operators are also all developing sophisticated M2M service propositions that go beyond the provision of basic connectivity. China is of course unique. Its sheer size offers economies of scale not available to smaller countries and its M2M market has also enjoyed robust support and investment from government. Indeed, M2M’s rapid development in China has been driven by a strong partnership between the public sector and the country’s mobile operators, allowing the market to gain critical mass in a short time and establishing solid foundations for future growth. At the GSMA, as part of our Connected Living Programme, we are working closely with operators in China and others around the world to accelerate the growth of M2M, enabling an “Internet of Things” that will bring numerous socio-economic benefits to citizens and businesses. We acknowledge the ever-increasing importance of Asia in the mobile ecosystem through our strong partnerships and direct engagement in the region and through events such as Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai, which is now in its third year. This report investigates why China is now the largest global market in the adoption of M2M and explores which sectors of the Chinese economy are adopting M2M, the role of government and, crucially, how Chinese operators are placing themselves centrally in the M2M value chain.
Anne Bouverot Director General and Member of the Board, GSMA CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...... 04 Introduction – the rise of Connected Living...... 04 How China’s mobile operators are moving up the value chain ...... 07 China Mobile – the world’s largest M2M operator ...... 08 China Telecom – combining fixed and mobile connectivity ...... 09 China Unicom – M2M a key part of the enterprise proposition ...... 09 The technical architecture underpinning China’s Internet of Things ...... 10 Supporting standardisation ...... 11 The pivotal role of the government ...... 11 Executive summary Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology connects machines, devices and appliances wirelessly to each other and the Internet, turning them into intelligent assets that open up a range of new potential services and possibilities for how businesses are run. M2M is an integral part of the Internet of Things: the interaction of applications enabled by communication between two or more machines. China is the global leader in the adoption of mobile M2M connectivity. At the end of 2013, China had 50 million mobile M2M connections, ahead of the U.S. with 32 million and Japan with 9.3 million, according to GSMA Intelligence. China’s M2M market added almost 39 million M2M connections between 2010 and 2013. Demand from the energy and transportation industries has driven much of this early growth, while M2M solutions are also gaining traction in the automotive, smart city, healthcare, education and retail sectors.
Much more than connectivity A close public-private partnership China’s leading mobile operators – China Mobile, China Telecom As well as benefitting from economies of scale not available and China Unicom – all of whom contributed to this report - to smaller countries, China’s M2M market has enjoyed robust are developing sophisticated M2M service propositions that go support from both central and local government – in some other far beyond the provision of basic connectivity. In many cases, markets, regulatory uncertainty has held back the deployment of they are providing end-to-end solutions, supported by systems M2M solutions. In fact, the rapid development of the M2M market integration and dedicated charging policies. All three operators in China has been driven by a strong partnership between the stress the importance of working with partners in this market public sector and the country’s leading mobile operators. Close and creating technological and commercial platforms that can co-operation between the telecoms industry and state-owned nurture a vibrant and innovative M2M ecosystem. The operators’ enterprises and local governments has enabled the M2M market M2M propositions typically combine a generic horizontal to gain critical mass in short period of time, laying a solid platform, designed to work across all economic sectors, and foundation for future growth. dedicated vertical platforms for specific application areas, such as automotive or healthcare. All three of China’s mobile operators see the current rapid growth continuing, citing considerable potential in the agricultural, China Mobile has set up a dedicated unit, ‘China Mobile Internet healthcare, automotive, retail and consumer electronics sectors. of Things Co. Ltd.’, supported by a centralised dedicated M2M In the consumer market, growth is likely to be driven by demand network, a unified operations platform, a dedicated number from China’s rapidly expanding middle class for smart homes, segment, communication channels and charging strategy. It has wearable devices, smart city services and connected cars. also developed standardised chipsets and modules, as well as own-brand devices for the Internet of Things. Analysts say the M2M market in China is also set to benefit from the rollout of 4G networks in the longer term, which China Telecom says its extensive fixed and mobile networks, provide the high throughput speeds and low latency required together with its ICT integration capabilities and its localised by advanced M2M applications, such as video surveillance and customer service operations, give it an advantage in the M2M in-car multimedia services. market. It believes a mobile operator needs to offer M2M customers quality of service (QoS) assurances, together with dedicated security and billing, and, in some cases, operational services. China Unicom attributes its success to date in the M2M market to its high-quality, high speed WCDMA network and wide range of fixed resources that meet customer needs. In addition, they believe strong partnerships with ecosystem players are vital to ongoing business success.
4 ©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA Global machine-to-machine (M2M) connections: 2010 to present
35% 242 CAGR
189
146 428 187 106 operators countries 74
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Global M2M connections (million) 428 operators Source: GSMA Intelligence
2010 1% 52% 52%
2013 3% 48% 48%
Developing economies 1 Developed economies
2010 2011 2012 2013
M2M as a % of total global connections Regional share of global M2M connections Source: GSMA Intelligence Source: GSMA Intelligence (1 World Bank definition)
The fastest growing region worldwide was Asia with a 54% CAGR between 2010-13, followed by Latin America (43%) and Africa (42%). 54.8 188.5
China alone added almost 39 million M2M connections during the period, in North America, almost one in every ten connections is M2M
29.1
Global M2M 15.1 5.3 connections 1.4 8.9 (million) 74.0 Regional M2M net additions (million) Total Oceania Africa Latin Northern Europe Asia Total 2010 America America 2013
Source: GSMA Intelligence This report considers why China is the largest market in the Introduction – The Rise of world in the adoption of M2M. It explores which sectors of the Connected Living Chinese economy are adopting M2M solutions first, describes how the country’s mobile operators are moving up the value Mobile technologies and services are transforming many chain, outlines the technical architecture underpinning China’s aspects of our personal and professional lives. Organisations emerging Internet of Things and considers the pivotal role of and individuals can now use wireless networks to monitor and the government. It draws on interviews with China’s three major remotely control an array of machines, vehicles and devices. mobile operators which have been anonymised, industry analysts Mobile technologies are enabling remote monitoring of chronic and technology vendors. diseases, smart energy meters, in-vehicle navigation, freight tracking, anywhere learning, remote controlled irrigation systems The GSMA is actively supporting the deployment of M2M and many other life-enhancing innovations. solutions in China and elsewhere. The GSMA’s Connected Living programme is helping mobile operators accelerate the delivery As well as enabling improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, of new connected devices and services in four ways: the real-time information captured by connected devices is beginning to flow into an “Internet of Things” that promises • IoT Connection Efficiency: The GSMA works with its ecosystem to generate valuable insights for both private companies and partners to establish guidelines for how machines should public administrations. The Internet of Things describes the communicate via the mobile network in the most intelligent coordination of multiple machines, devices and appliances and efficient way. connected to the Internet through multiple networks. These • Future IoT Networks: The GSMA is working to establish devices include everyday objects, such as smartphones, tablets common capabilities among mobile operators to enable a and consumer electronics, and other machines such as vehicles, network that supports value creation for all stakeholders. monitors and sensors equipped with machine-to-machine (M2M) • Remote M2M Provisioning: The GSMA’s vision is to unite all communications that enable them to send and receive data. stakeholders behind a single, common and global specification Mobile networks are at the heart of the Internet of Things. Global to help accelerate the growing machine-to-machine (M2M) machine-to-machine (M2M) connections over mobile networks market. will hit a quarter of a billion this year, up from 189 million in 2013, • IoT Business Enablers: The GSMA is working to create a according to GSMA Intelligence. M2M accounted for 2.8% of all sustainable M2M environment that enables operators to global mobile connections at the end of 2013, double the 1.4% unlock the consumer and business benefits of the IoT. share recorded in 2010.
How China compares with other countries “At the end of 2013, China Asia is the largest regional M2M market accounting for 40% of global M2M connections, followed by Europe (29%), North had 50 million M2M America (19%), Latin America (7%), Africa (4%) and Oceania (1%), according to GSMA Intelligence. Asia added 55 million M2M net connections between 2010-13, compared with 29 million in connections, ahead of the Europe and 15 million in North America. China is the primary driver of the growth in Asia, adding almost 39 million M2M U.S. with 32 million and connections during the period. At the end of 2013, China had 50 million M2M connections, ahead of Japan with 9.3 million” the U.S. with 32 million and Japan with 9.3 million, according to Sylwia - Sylwia Kechiche, Senior Analyst M2M, Kechiche, Senior Analyst M2M, GSMA Intelligence. The addressable market in China is immense and represents an incredible opportunity GSMA Intelligence for continued future growth when one considers the sheer number of things that could potentially be connected.
Which industries are Implementing intelligent transportation As the workshop of the world and a major producer of food, leading the way in M2M? China transports vast quantities of perishable produce, components and finished products. Like the energy sector, Energy is an early adopter China’s huge transportation industry is harnessing M2M to The energy sector was the first industry in China to embrace improve efficiency. Haulage companies are making increasing M2M technology on a large scale. Across the country, utility use of M2M solutions both to track the location of trucks and companies, which are mostly state-owned, are deploying smart to control the temperature and humidity of their cargos. M2M meters that provide real-time information on energy usage, solutions are enabling China to cut fuel costs significantly. enabling the utility to better balance supply and demand, as well China’s rail systems, urban transportation networks, highways as enabling building owners to remotely control their energy and waterways are also using connected systems, including systems. Alex Chau, Principal Analyst, Head of Asia at Machina video cameras, to monitor performance and safety, according Research, says that 180 million smart meters have been installed to Haihua Li of the China Academy of Telecommunications in China and a further 60 million are being deployed. Although Research at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. most of the existing smart meters are connected using fixed At a Workshop on the Internet of Things in Beijing in August lines, Chau expects mobile networks to play a key role as smart 2013, Li noted that 26 provinces in China have deployed energy grids expand beyond the major cities. electronic toll collection systems covering 4,600 lanes used by 5.1 million drivers.
6 ©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA At the same time, private vehicle owners in China are beginning to demand in-car navigation and info-entertainment services, How China’s mobile which can make journeys safer, quicker and more enjoyable. The operators are moving up after-market for devices that enable consumers to connect their cars to such services is growing rapidly, according to Kevin Li, the value chain analyst in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. European car makers, in particular, are working with China’s All three of China’s mobile operators are developing sophisticated mobile operators to provide connected car services (see next M2M service propositions that go far beyond the provision of section for more detail). Li says all three Chinese operators have basic connectivity, which can account for just a small fraction dedicated teams serving the automotive sector. of the overall value. In many cases, the operators are providing end-to-end solutions, supported by systems integration and Making cities smarter dedicated charging policies. All three operators stress the China’s central and local governments have also put the country importance of working with partners in this market and creating at the forefront of the global movement to use information and technological and commercial platforms that can nurture a communications technology (ICT) to improve urban life. All vibrant and innovative M2M ecosystem. three of the leading mobile operators have major smart city Now that they have secured 4G licenses, China’s mobile programmes (see next section for more detail) and, by February operators can place more strategic focus on the M2M market 2013, 219 cities in China had announced they will roll out smart and step up their efforts to play a larger role in the overall value city technologies and services . chain, according to Alex Chau at Machina. The deployment of China’s fast growing urban population means space is at a high-performance 4G networks could also give a boost to the premium in many parts of the country, putting urban transport M2M market. Even though the cost of a 4G module is still close networks under increasing pressure. In response, China’s cities to $100, Chau believes most M2M customers will want to use are deploying intelligent traffic management systems, which 4G to ensure the solution is future proof. Chinese operators also monitor traffic flows and then adjust signals to ease congestion have the scale to bring down the cost of modules. in specific bottlenecks. In many cases, drivers looking for somewhere to park can be a major contributor to congestion. In China Mobile – the world’s largest M2M Shanghai and Beijing, a number of subscription services now use operator wirelessly connected sensors to let drivers know where to find The largest mobile operator in the world with 767 million free parking spaces, according to Alex Chau at Machina. connections at the end of 2013, China Mobile is also the largest China’s cities are also using mobile connectivity to remotely M2M operator in the world. By December 2013, China Mobile had control streetlights and sewer covers, to track noise levels on 32 million M2M connections, up from 22 million at the end of 2012. construction sites and in residential areas, and to support China Mobile first launched M2M services in 2007, creating an evacuations in the event of an emergency. Another key M2M operation center in Chongqing in 2008 to research and develop application is monitoring air quality and other environmental a national Internet of Things platform and M2M products. Two factors: China now has 343 centres automatically monitoring years later, China Mobile set up a dedicated unit, ‘China Mobile more than 15,000 pollution sources. Internet of Things Co. Ltd.’, which focused initially on developing Healthcare, education and retail applications for the urban management, smart transportation and industrial control markets. China Mobile says a dedicated M2M solutions are also being deployed in other sectors of the unit is necessary to provide professional market analysis that can Chinese economy. Healthcare providers are piloting systems that be used to develop new products and business functions that enable patients to be monitored remotely, while schools in rural meet market demand and ensure effective follow-up. areas are being connected to cloud services that enable them to China Mobile has built a centralised dedicated M2M network access the same educational resources that are available to their supported by a unified operations platform, a dedicated counterparts in the cities (see next section for more detail). At number segment, communication channels and charging the same time, banks are increasingly supplying retailers with strategy. Without a dedicated network, China Mobile says wirelessly connected point of sale terminals, which are more M2M applications would need to be adapted to work across versatile than traditional cash registers. its 31 provincial networks. The operator has also developed standardised chipsets and modules, which have been an
important factor driving M2M growth, as well as own-brand devices for the Internet of Things. A broad portfolio of solutions China Mobile has created a suite of low-cost, standardised and “All three of China’s mobile open M2M solutions, such as a home security service, a fleet management service and a remote surveillance service, together operators are developing with an array of customised solutions (see next page). Moreover, the operator has signed “wireless city construction agreements” sophisticated M2M service with 217 cities in 31 provinces. China Mobile attributes its early success in the M2M market to the propositions that go far high quality of its network, comprehensive network coverage, a flexible billing strategy and the provision of an independent beyond the provision of terminal management interface for customers. To nurture the M2M ecosystem, China Mobile says mobile operators need to establish a basic platform, supported by clear and specific basic connectivity” application programming interfaces (APIs) that developers can use to create applications that run on the platform. China Mobile also benefits from the development of a proprietary platform as well as Wireless Machine-to-Machine Protocol. The Protocol allows manufacturers to quickly develop and deploy M2M applications for use on China Mobile’s network without having to perform extensive development and testing, which in Source: Haihua Li, China Academy of Telecommunications Research, turn results in a much faster time to market, according to Sylwia MIIT, Workshop on the Internet of Things in Beijing, August 23, 2013: Kechiche, Senior Analyst M2M, GSMA Intelligence.
©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA 7 China Mobile’s M2M Solutions in Action
Emergency rescue: Noise monitoring: Smart Agriculture: The China Mobile Information China Mobile has developed a China Mobile has developed Platform shares patient data with noise monitoring system that several Internet of Things emergency dispatching centres, can automatically collect noise applications aimed at the which are then able to retrieve data using a combination of agricultural sector, including medical record and emergency sensors, wireless networks and “Greenhouse Manager”, “Smart contact information immediately, applications. The system is now Drip Irrigation System” and a enabling them to better prepare part of the standard tools used “Crop Status and Environment for treatment and contact the by the Xiamen Government to Monitoring System”, to help patients’ families as early as monitor construction sites. It farmers increase both their possible. has been used in more than 46 productivity and income. sites where it has reduced the complaint rate by 77%. The system has also been implemented in 24 residential communities, serving 200,000 residents.
Health monitoring: Real-time transport information: Smart Mining: China Mobile works with medical China Mobile says it is enabling China Mobile has developed the organisations to provide in-home drivers to access real-time traffic “Electronic Coal Mine Mobile monitoring of the condition information and public transport Information” system for Xinzheng of post-surgery patients. The users to check bus routes, Coal & Electric Company, a system monitors patients’ health schedules, and the actual position subsidiary of Zhengzhou Coal indicators and alerts medical of buses on their handsets. These Industry Co., Ltd. in Henan. The professionals when irregularities solutions have been launched in system enables managers to locate occur. By enabling patients to a number of provinces, including the position of personnel and access recover from surgery in their own Jiangsu, Guangxi, Guizhou, and real-time operational information, home, this service helps ease the Hainan. such as gas density, ventilation pressure on hospitals. conditions, and performance of major equipment, on their mobile phones, significantly improving the safety of coal mines.
Smart Oilfield: Safer travel: Smart Forestry: China Mobile’s integrated Smart China Mobile’s “Vehicle Guardian” China Mobile has developed the Oilfield system is designed to application, which connects to Forest Fire Watch platform in enable oilfield managers to police systems, can be used to Fujian to monitor fire hazards in conduct quick analysis, diagnose track a vehicle’s location, send real-time and collect data on the irregularities, provide instructions safety warnings and monitor weather and temperature. Since remotely, and achieve automated travel routes. This application, its deployment, the system has control. The mobile operator says which has already been launched successfully detected 325 fire the system can help an oilfield in Jiangsu, Fujian, Shanghai, hazards and avoided economic increase its yield and oil recovery Jiangxi and Hubei provinces, losses of 770 million yuan, while rate by 2%-4% and 2%-7% is used by more than 500,000 reducing the need for patrols respectively. It has been deployed subscribers. on the ground. China Mobile has in Karamay oilfield in Xinjiang, also built a similar platform called Daqing oilfield in Heilongjiang, Mobile Forest Patrol platform and Shengli oilfield in Shandong. in Shandong, which protects the safety of forest patrols with real-time position tracking, patrol routes, and deviations from Safer cities: Tackling the digital divide: demarcations. China Mobile is working with To address the imbalance of law enforcement authorities on educational resources between a “Safe City” project, supporting urban and rural areas, China real-time surveillance of traffic Mobile is constructing the and security situations. In National Education Resource Guangxi, the operator has Public Service Platform - a developed the Smart Security cloud platform of high-quality Alarm system. When emergencies educational resources. The such as burglary, fire or gas platform has served more leakage, happen, the system than 900 schools nationwide, automatically sends alerts to benefiting five million teachers homeowners and community and students. China Mobile monitoring centres. has also piloted the Electronic Schoolbag Programme and distributed about 1,000 tablets PCs to more than 20 schools in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other six provinces. China Telecom – China Unicom – combining fixed and mobile M2M a key part of the connectivity enterprise proposition China Telecom is the largest fixed line operator in China and the China Unicom is the second largest telecoms operator in China third largest mobile operator. At the end of 2013, it served 186 serving almost 281 million mobile connections and 88 million million mobile connections and 156 wireline connections. fixed-line connections at the end of 2013. As it is using the same 3G and 4G technologies as hundreds of mobile operators In 2007, China Telecom began constructing an Internet of worldwide, Unicom benefits from the mobile industry’s global Things platform, supporting multiple types of terminals and economies of scale and has been able to sign multiple deals with systems, and integrating various service functions, such as multinational equipment manufacturers. remote management, operation monitoring, alarm management, protocol adaptation, industry service access, and transparent By the end of 2013, China Unicom was serving approximately data transmission. In October 2011, China Telecom established 10 million M2M connections supporting various applications, an application and promotion center and a key laboratory for the including video surveillance, intelligent transportation, Internet of Things in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. connected cars, smart meters and health monitoring. China Telecom says its extensive fixed and mobile networks, The Internet of Things is an important part of China Unicom’s together with its ICT integration capabilities and its localised enterprise proposition which encompasses solutions and customer service operations, give it an advantage in the M2M planning, systems integration and operation. China Unicom market. It believes a mobile operator needs to offer M2M says it has established a specialised “Corporate Customer customers quality of service (QoS) assurances, together with Department” to meet demand in the public sector and provide dedicated security and billing, as well as operational services the necessary project consulting. China Unicom believes that for large-scale applications. Moreover, the operator says a Municipal administration and government departments are one dedicated M2M unit is necessary to provide customers with of the most important sources of market demand in the Chinese specialist expertise and to aggregate the required resources for Internet of Things market. In its 2013 Annual Report, China large customers. Unicom said it is working on 175 smart city projects. If there is a need to carry high volumes of traffic, China Telecom China Unicom says fleet management, remote meter reading, believes a dedicated M2M network can offer advantages, such as outdoor media, video surveillance and other industrial simpler network interaction processes and lower costs. applications account for the bulk of the M2M market in China today. In future, it expects M2M to also be widely adopted in the automotive and healthcare sectors. Connecting 800,000 video cameras China Telecom is a major supplier of connected video surveillance Forging international partnerships systems in China. The operator says its “Mega Eye” business, China Unicom has entered into several M2M partnerships which started in 2003, is providing large scale video surveillance with international players. For example, in October 2011, the networks to industry, SMEs and consumers across 20 different operator signed a strategic M2M agreement with Madrid-based sectors, including public security, transportation, finance, group Telefónica. In June 2012, China Unicom and Telefónica insurance, inspection and quarantine, environmental protection, Digital, with its partner Telstra, announced they had developed meteorology, education, urban management, mining, tobacco, and successfully proven a remote management solution for petroleum, petrochemical and manufacturing. embedded M2M SIMs with technical support from Giesecke & Devrient. The solution enables remote management of the China Telecom says it invested heavily in research to develop subscription data of M2M embedded SIMs, including remote the Mega Eye service, which offers carrier-grade network video activation on demand, subscription transfer between different surveillance system technology, mass media stream distribution, M2M devices and subscription replacement. China Unicom is support for multiple tenants and low maintenance costs. As working with its ecosystem partners and other global operators a result, Mega Eye is now a large scale service, supporting in the adoption, development and commercialization of GSMA 800,000 cameras, and has been used at the World Expo and guidelines. other major events. In April 2014, China Unicom, signed a deal with global China Telecom has also signed smart city construction connectivity solutions provider, Cubic Telecom, to enable M2M agreements with 150 cities in 25 provinces, according to Haihua devices to connect to its mobile network. Cubic specialises in Li, China Academy of Telecommunications Research. At a providing over-the-air (OTA) services, such as software updates, workshop on the Internet of Things in Beijing, in August 2013, Li telematics related services and location based services to enable said the agreements encompass the following applications and M2M providers to manage data in real-time. services: China Unicom has also signed partnerships with multiple • E-government: smart environment, public safety, city automotive manufacturers, including Gelly, Chang’an, Roewe, supervision, smart government Dongfeng, Yulong, D Partner and BMW. In the case of BMW, • People’s livelihood: intelligent transportation, intelligent Unicom connects the automaker’s cars to BMW’s ConnectedDrive medical, smart school management, smart community. services via its 3G network, falling back to its 2G network where • Economic aspect: smart logistics, smart finance, smart 3G coverage is not available. As well as providing specially- tourism, smart agriculture, smart ocean, smart zone, smart configured SIM cards to be permanently mounted into the building, smart enterprise. embedded mobile modules inside the vehicles, China Unicom also operates a contact centre that handles the incoming calls • An ‘I-city’ unified access portal from BMW drivers and hosts the data centres that run the China Telecom is also present in the automotive sector and is ConnectedDrive information services. the connectivity provider for the Chinese version of GM OnStar services, which has over 700,000 active subscribers. China Through a partnership with the Beijing Municipal Health Telecom says it sees scope for considerable growth in China’s Bureau, China Unicom is also active in the healthcare sector, M2M market. supporting online appointment and health information services
©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA 9 for 114 hospitals in Beijing. Moreover, Unicom is working with in this area and is working with property developers to equip 112 emergency medical centers and hospitals to develop smart apartments aimed at the elderly with health monitoring solutions. ambulances equipped with an ECG monitor with embedded China Unicom attributes its success to date in the M2M market to 3G connectivity and video surveillance. Data collected from its high-quality, high-speed WCDMA network and a wide range the ECG monitor can be sent to the hospital through Unicom’s of fixed resources that can meet customers’ needs, especially 3G network in real time, enabling staff to prepare for the those requiring high-speed data and/or video transmission. patient’s arrival. Although China Unicom sees a number of challenges in the China Unicom says the use of wireless technologies for remote M2M market, such as low ARPUs, fragmentation and immature health monitoring also has great market potential. It says the business models, it believes the M2M business will grow to aging of society and healthcare reform will have huge electronic become an important source of subscribers and revenue growth. health service needs, requiring operators to conduct pilot studies and strategic planning. It is running several pilot partnerships
Moving from M2M to the Internet of Things China is taking a pragmatic approach to building an Internet of Things, employing a wide range of wireless technologies, fixed networks, sensors, computing systems and applications. At a high level, China’s government defines the Internet of Things as encompassing three kinds of networks : • Industrial proprietary networks • Telecoms networks (M2M solutions) • The Internet Speaking at an Internet of Things workshop in Beijing in August 2013, Haihua Li of China Academy of Telecommunications Research, said telecoms operators’ M2M propositions typically combine a generic horizontal platform, designed to work across all economic sectors, and dedicated vertical platforms for specific application areas, such as automotive or healthcare.
M2M platform: Horizontal M2M platform , provide common support to different application areas Vertical Platforms. for specific application areas
Management Application M2M Security capabilities layer applications capabilities
Service support and Application support layer
Specific support capabilities General SL-SL support e-health Telematics capabilities support support
Networking capabilities Network layer Transport capabilities
Device Gateway Device layer capabilities capabilities
The generic M2M platform typically consists of three key elements – the network infrastructure platform, the application and service support platform and the business operation support platform.
Source: Haihua Li of China Academy of Telecommunications Research, MIIT, presentation August, 2013
10 ©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA Supporting standardisation The pivotal role of the Even though the Chinese market is large enough to generate major economies of scale, the country’s M2M ecosystem is government supporting international standardisation. China’s operators A rapidly developing and urbanising country, China is looking to and technology vendors are actively involved in international use information and communications technologies to make its standardisation programmes related to M2M. China Unicom, fast expanding cities smarter and enable a better quality of life for for example, says it is important that industry associations and their citizens. In a bid to make the most efficient use of resources the relevant ISO standards reduce market fragmentation and and space, the country’s policy makers have prioritised the operator technology deployment costs. Kevin Li, analyst in the development of the Internet of Things. In 2011, Chinese Premier Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics, also called for Wen Jiabao identified Internet of Things (IoT) as an “emerging more cross-operator standardisation work to make it easier for strategic industry” in an interview with state media. customers to deploy M2M solutions. “Once China has decided something, it can move very quickly,” - Alex Chau, Principal Analyst, Head of Asia, Machina Research
The Internet of Things is one of priority projects of China’s 12th Five-Year Development Plan (2011- 2015). In February 2012, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the national 12th five year plan for IoT industry, which put forward the objectives, investment and roadmap required to develop China’s IoT market. China’s government plans to invest 3,860 billion yuan (US$603 billion) in the M2M ecosystem in the decade to 2020, according to China’s R&D Center for Internet of Things (CIT-China). Many of China’s M2M projects are being coordinated by the National Sensor Information Center (NSIC) in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. This park is reported to be home to almost 1,000 companies working on Internet of Things-related projects. “The whole IoT industry chain has been developed here, from sensor chips to model applications, systems and the big demonstration projects,” Sammy Shen, Vice-President of Business Development at the NSIC’s Sensing China Center, said in an interview with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
The government’s pivotal role is recognised by the country’s mobile operators. China Mobile says the Chinese government has provided “strong guidance” and made available special funds to accelerate the development of China’s Internet of Things market. Similarly, China Unicom notes that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the networking industry, providing government funding and policy support that has created “a relatively good external policy environment”. China Telecom adds that the government has “invested a lot of resources in the Internet of Things to improve people’s livelihood, improve service levels and increase economic development opportunities.” In summary, the rapid development of the M2M market in China has been driven by a strong partnership between the public sector and the country’s leading mobile operators. Close co- operation between the telecoms industry and state-owned enterprises and local governments has enabled the M2M market to gain critical mass in short period of time, laying a solid foundation for future growth.
http://wsnblog.com/2011/10/24/china-plans-big-investment-in- internet-of-things/
©GSMA gsma/connectedliving.com • [email protected] • @GSMA 11 The GSMA Connected Living Programme The GSMA Connected Living Programme is an initiative to help operators add value and accelerate the delivery of new connected devices and services in the M2M market. This is to be achieved by industry collaboration, appropriate regulation, optimising networks as well as developing key enablers to support the growth of M2M in the immediate future and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the longer term.
Our vision To enable the IoT, a world in which consumers and businesses enjoy rich new services, connected by an intelligent and secure mobile network.
Our Programme: 1 IoT Connection Efficiency: The GSMA works with its ecosystem partners to establish guidelines for how machines should communicate via the mobile network in the most intelligent and efficient way. 2 Future IoT Networks: The GSMA is working to establish common capabilities among mobile operators to enable a network that supports value creation for all stakeholders. 3 remote M2M Provisioning: The GSMA’s vision is to unite all stakeholders behind a single, common and global specification to help accelerate the growing machine-to-machine (M2M) market. 4 IoT Business Enablers: The GSMA is working to create a sustainable M2M environment that enables operators to unlock the consumer and business benefits of the IoT.
Please visit www.gsma.com/connectedliving or email [email protected] for further information
About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators with 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.